Clinton, Sanders differ on down-ballot Democrats

[Gothmog]

There is a major difference between Clinton and Sanders with respect to down ballot candidates http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/clinton-sanders-differ-down-ballot-democrats

Yesterday afternoon, meanwhile, Hillary Clinton’s campaign announced its fundraising tally over the same period, and though Sanders hasn’t matched his rival in votes or wins, we were reminded once more that he’s easily defeating her when it comes to dollars in the bank. But the Clinton campaign’s press release added something Sanders’ did not:

Hillary Clinton raised about $29.5 million for her primary campaign during March. That amount brings the first quarter total to nearly $75 million raised for the primary, beating the campaign’s goal of $50 million by about 50 percent. [Hillary For America] begins April with nearly $29 million on hand.

Clinton raised an additional $6.1 million for the DNC and state parties during the month of March, bringing the total for the quarter to about $15 million [emphasis added].

The first part matters, of course, to the extent that Sanders’ fundraising juggernaut is eclipsing Clinton’s operation, but it’s the second part that stands out. How much money did Sanders raise for the DNC and state parties in March? Actually, zero. For the quarter, the total was also zero.

And while the typical voter probably doesn’t know or care about candidates’ work on behalf of down-ballot allies, this speaks to a key difference between Sanders and Clinton: the former is positioning himself as the leader of a revolution; the latter is positioning herself as the leader of the Democratic Party. For Sanders, it means raising amazing amounts of money to advance his ambitions; for Clinton, it means also raising money to help other Democratic candidates.

As Rachel noted on the show last night, the former Secretary of State has begun emphasizing this angle while speaking to voters on the campaign trail. Here, for example, is Clinton addressing a Wisconsin audience over the weekend:

“I’m also a Democrat and have been a proud Democrat all my adult life. I think that’s kind of important if we’re selecting somebody to be the Democratic nominee of the Democratic Party.

“But what it also means is that I know how important to elect state legislatures, to elect Democratic governors, to elect a Democratic Senate and House of Representatives.”

The message wasn’t subtle: Clinton is a Democrat and Sanders isn’t; Clinton is working to help Democrats up and down the ballot and Sanders isn’t.

Super Delegates will be taking this difference into account in deciding which candidate is best for the party

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

1. This is a bullcrap...

How did Tim Canova raise $557,000 in his first quarter? From Unicorns?

I do not want any of my money going to the DNC and I am sure many of my fellow Berners agree.

[Gothmog]

2. And you have no problem with super delegates taking this view into account?

You are confirming the premise of the OP and I have no doubt that the super delegates will be happy to take your views into account

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

3. They should take this view into count...

If they don't want to end up like Debbie Wasserman Shultz they better think long and hard about who they will vote for. We the people are watching and are ready to fund our primary opponents.

[Gothmog]

4. You do realize that the filing deadlines to primary a super delegate will have expired by DNC

The filing deadlines for most members of Congress have already expired or will expire shortly and so the threat of a sanders primary against these super delegates is amusing but will not affect any super delegates vote

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

5. In many races we already have Berniecrats running in the primaries.

Tim Canova is one example. Lucy Flores is another Berniecrat

[geek tragedy]

6. so will regular voters nt

[Gothmog]

7. Transcript: POLITICO's Glenn Thrush interviews Hillary Clinton

This was an interesting interview of Sec. Clinton with some good comments about Sanders not wanting to raise money for down ballot candidates http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/transcript-politicos-glenn-thrush-interviews-hillary-clinton-221512

SEC. CLINTON: --which has the highest rate of uninsured people in America, still, even though we're at 90 percent universal coverage, refusing to do that. It's bad for people and it's bad for the health care systems, particularly in poor urban and rural areas.
So is it important that you have a strong leadership for your party? I think it's critical. And think of how much better my life would be, in terms of fulfilling my agenda, if we took back the Senate and my friend and former partner, Chuck Schumer, were the majority leader in the Senate.

So I don't understand how you wouldn't want to elect down-ballot Democrats, starting in this election, which is why I've been raising money for the Democratic Party, because I believe the more we build up our organization, the more prepared we are, it will not only help me in November, it will help lift up and elect other Democrats as well.

GLENN THRUSH: When he puts his head on a pillow at night, do you think he goes to sleep a Democrat?

SEC. CLINTON: [Laughs] Well, I can't answer that, Glenn, because he's a relatively new Democrat, and, in fact, I'm not even sure he is one. He's running as one. So I don't know quite how to characterize him. I'll leave that to him. But I know there's a big difference between Democrats and Republicans, and I know that Senator Sanders spends a lot of time attacking my husband, attacking President Obama, you know, calling President Obama weak and disappointing, and actually making a move in 2012 to recruit somebody to run a primary against him. I rarely hear him say anything negative about George W. Bush, who I think wrecked our economy, just not to put too fine a point on it.

GLENN THRUSH: Right.

SEC. CLINTON: So I don't know where he is on the spectrum, but I can tell you where I am. I'm going to do everything I can to get myself elected, but that's not enough. I'm going to try to help move the Senate to be a Democratic majority. I'm going to try to help pick up House seats. I'm going to try to elect Democratic governors, Democratic legislators, and all the way down the line.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/transcript-politicos-glenn-thrush-interviews-hillary-clinton-221512#ixzz454rBEoE1
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

[Lucinda]

10. TY. And that is why SD's will NEVER switch to Bernie unless he has a huge delegate lead coming into

convention. Which isn't going to happen.

[DesertRat]

8. K&R

[Lucinda]

9. Yep. And it matters.

[democrattotheend]

11. Isn't a lot of the money Hillary is "raising" for state parties actually going back to her?

To exploit some loophole that lets maxed out donors give more?